Retriever gets a new leash on life

Abandoned dog finds loving home after surgery

March 05, 2013|By Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune reporter

Katy gazes lovingly at Dennis Rusin, right, while Pat Rusin holds her for a photo. The Rusins, of Galewood, adopted the golden retriever after the dog was abandoned. (Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune)

If it weren't for the scar near her belly, no one might guess that Katy, a loving golden retriever, had ever been left alone in an apartment for at least 10 days earlier this year, sick and hungry.

That was in early January. Today, Katy, whose new owners, Pat and Dennis Rusin, guess is 4 or 5 years old, happily jumps on visitors to her new home, sitting quietly nearby until they stroke her head. She has her own basket full of chew toys, and a spot on a couch reserved for her to sleep on in a den in the Rusins' Galewood home.

Just weeks ago, when police dropped off the dog at the Elmwood-Grove Animal Hospital in River Grove, "It was skin and bones. It looked like it couldn't go another day without eating," said Lawrence Fox, owner and veterinarian at the hospital.

She also carried a growth that grew from her groin area. It was so large it almost reached the ground when she stood, he said. Despite her sickly state, the dog was friendly, affectionately licking those who cared for her at the hospital, Fox said.

"She was a sweet dog," Fox said. "She had obviously had a very hard life."

Using money from his own pocket and wiping out the hospital's needy animal fund, Fox said he completed surgery and other medical tests on Katy. The growth — which was benign — was removed. She was otherwise healthy and housebroken, ready for a new permanent home.

Dennis and Pat Rusin thought they were finished with adopting pets. They had lost a beloved dog, Shelter, in 2009, and weren't looking for a new pup to take in. But lifelong animal lovers, the couple stopped at the animal hospital in January to see if a missing cat from their neighborhood had been turned in.

Then they met Katy.

"(Dennis) said 'It wouldn't hurt to look at her,'" said Pat Rusin.

Days later she went home with the couple.

Fox said the animal hospital takes in stray or sick animals from local police. But Katy's initially poor condition and friendly temperament made her stand out, Fox said.

"It was her state. Her sweetness. My staff fell in love with her, and they said to me 'Can we save her?'" Fox said.